Loopholes in UID programme pose security risk, says activist -Governance Now

Loopholes in UID programme pose security risk, says activist

Project may lead to infringement of privacy and misuse of data

PTI | December 20, 2010

The Unique Identity Programme, which aims to provide every Indian citizen with an unique identification number, is fraught with concerns relating to security, infringement of rights and misuse of data, a member of an organisation opposing the project said today.

"The presumption that many of the poor are excluded from the welfare schemes simply because they could not prove their identity is a misplaced one", said Usha Ramanathan, member of the 'Say No to UID Campaign'.

Many of the poor were out of the gamut due to vested interests, who did not want them to enjoy advantages of the scheme and often swindled the welfare benefits for themselves, she alleged.

"None of these problems could be solved by the possession of a UID number", she said.

Ramanathan, said the programme which promises to facilitate inclusive growth and delivery of basic services has several glitches.

She alleged that Unique Identification Authority of India's (UIDAI) practice of using private parties to capture the biometric data of people poses a huge security risk.

"Handing over data to companies that were driven by profit alone as a goal raised questions over whether this data would be used for commercial benefits," she said.

"Putting all the information of an individual on a single database made it easy for it being misused for surveillance purposes, given the loopholes in the system," Ramanathan said.

Moreover, the process of registering for the UID itself involved personal data lying in three or four places, which could be misused by agencies involved in the same, she said.

"To assume that fingerprints and other biometric means are completely foolproof is wrong," she claimed, adding, it is a sense of security largely misplaced. Both fingerprints and iris recognition could be spoofed.

Supporting her views, Mathew Thomas of the Citizen Action Forum, said the Rs 45,000 crore being spent on the UID programme could have been poured into improving the storage capacity of grains in the country, referring to Rs 60,000 crore worth of food grains rotting every year due to lack of storage space.

The programme also poses a danger of illegal migrants managing to obtain a UID number and subsequently a citizenship, Thomas said.

He called for replacing the UID biometric number system in a central data base by a simple photo ID card with bar code.

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